Windows 10: back up to external drive stopped working and no file history since April. Not using cloud.

I have Windows 10 and I don't use Cloud Drive. I prefer to use and external hard drive to back up.


I discovered that my back ups had stopped working because I was looking for a file now lost. On the old Seagate external drive, it appears it stopped working last April, 2020. I find this strange as I can see it blinking and when I put my hand on the external hard drive, I can feel it running.


Windows 10 also informs me it has NEVER done a file history, which is not good news.


So, I bought a new external hard drive, WD, and I can see the drive on Explorer, and the drive has a letter assigned to it: F


The back up and File History still doesn't work.


I do a clean reboot.


Still doesn't work.


I can directly copy/paste a file from my desk top HP to the external drive F:


When I go to Control Panel and I indicate to start a back up 'now', it just stops. When I do to Advanced and select a Drive to back up to, it 'finds' the F Drive, and I select it, but it says there is an error.

I re-checked the driver for the USB and it is up to date. Not sure what else to do.


Is there a troubleshooter I can download?

:)

 

How to stop File History on the old drive and start File History on a new drive?

I use the external drive
for File History and have a lot of information there. I want to restart the File History process on a new drive and place the previous File History drive off-site.

Please suggest the steps to stop File History on the old drive and start File History on a new drive.

 

Windows10 File History Stopped Backing Up

Steve. Thanks for the info! Since re-setting the Options in FH seems to have fixed it, I plan to leave well enough alone. But will definitely try your suggestion if it quits working again.

On a more general question: Is there a better Auto Backup application than File History? I don't care about historical versions of any files - only current version in case my hard drive fails. I prefer it to be on my external hard drive (not cloud), and free is always good!

 

How to remove folders from File History

• I had the same problem, and I solved in this way:
  Control Panel -> System and Security-> File History -> Turn off
  Settings -> Update & Security -> Backup -> More options -> Stop using this drive
  Delete the File History folder in your external drive.
  Start using File History again.
  After performing these steps, I can easily add folders to "Excluded Folders" and they remain excluded. I checked in the actual files and folders saved on the external disk, and it works.
  I did not modify the default settings about how often and how long backup is saved, File History is working ok now. So I guess it is important to click "Stop using this drive" in order to reset File History.
  Hope this will be helpful